Cyndie Smith Designs: Get Found By The Search Engine

Well, we’re almost to the midpoint of our FEST boot camp exercises! Welcome to week 3! How do you think you’re doing so far?

I know that for some of you, last week might have been a major task. We looked at our tags, added “mother’s day” tags, or “gift for mom” or whatever else was appropriate. For some, with around 100 listings, I’m sure that took a lot of time. I hope you looked at the Etsy Apps to find one that would do it all at once for you. Believe me, those Apps can be time savers.

This week we’re going to look at your listings and see what we can do to get them found in Etsy and Google searches. Again, this will involve tags, as well as titles and your descriptions.

Let’s talk about Google first, because it’s really important to find buyers off Etsy….a way of bringing in new customers. What I’ve learned – and I still need to make changes like you – from my research on the subject is that Google likes repetition. So first look at your product. What is it? I’ll give you an example: Copper cuff. I can give it a fancy name like “dream cuff” but how many people do you think will type that name into a Google search? Right! Probably only me, so Copper Cuff needs to be in the title. Next, look at your description. Your first sentence needs to include the words Copper Cuff. This will make your product Google relevant. These changes will also apply to your Etsy search, but you need to include these keywords in your tags as well, in order to be Etsy relevant. If you’ve read any of the blogs from Etsy marketing, you know the search process is all about being relevant.

While you’re looking at your descriptions, ask yourself – does it tell a story? Or is it creative? Does it make the potential customer interested in seeing more? Yeah, I can hear you groaning! I hate writing descriptions too! Most of the time I’m in a rush to get the product listed, and my creative writing just isn’t there for me. So, like you, I’m going to take a look at my descriptions and see if I can improve them. Things like how it was made, or why it was made, or imaginative uses for the product are simple ways to enhance your descriptions. Phrases like “a perfect gift for Mom” can apply this time, since increasing sales for Mother’s Day is our goal.

Another thing I recently learned: Your shop sections tell Google and potential customers what your shop is all about. Check out your sections. It’s easy to get carried away with cute descriptive titles, but Google won’t know what you’re talking about. Maybe your customers won’t either! So try to include your key words in your shop sections too. Example: “Copper Cuffs” if you have more than one. Or something even more basic – “Metal Cuffs” or “Copper, Brass and Silver Cuffs”

One last thing about key words: if you go to your shop stats section, below the nifty graft of activity, you’ll find a list of key words customers have used to find you. That will give you a good idea of what words are working for you, and which are not. Can you apply those key words to more of your products? If you can, this will increase your visibility in the search process.
Ok – so let’s recap!

Step 1: Look at your titles. Do they accurately describe your product?

Step 2: Look at your descriptions. Have you incorporated your title into the first sentence? You can get pretty creative here!

Step 3: Look at your tags. Have you included the keywords?

Step 4: Look at your shop sections. Make sure they accurately describe the products to be found in your shop.

Remember: Repetition, Repetition, repetition!

Before I sign off, here are some Mother's Day gift suggestions - handmade in the USA - by some of our bootcamp participants!